Stress & Worry Activities

STRESS IS MESSY WALL – FAMILY ACTIVITY

Create a “stress is a mess” wall together. Each family member writes or draws what makes them stressed, frustrated, worried, angry, and upset on paper. Tape each paper to an outdoor wall/fence (this can also be drawn on a sidewalk with chalk). Allow each member the opportunity to get their feelings out by throwing water balloons or spraying a hose at your wall. Each person may want to say the stressors aloud or aim at what they wrote.

WORRY tear – youth activity ages 11 – Adult

Even though worrying might make us feel like we’re in control ̶ sometimes those worries take control of us. Write out all of the things you are worried about on a piece of paper. Anything and everything.

Take your list of worries and rip it to shreds. How did it make you feel to tear up your list?

This is an ongoing tool you can use. Designate a pad of sticky notes of notebook paper as a place to write down your worries. Some find it helpful to have by their bed to write it all out before going to sleep.

worry monster – youth activity ages 3 – 11

When someone special dies, it is normal to feel like we have butterflies in our stomach or worry about something happening to someone else we care about. When we hold all of our worries inside, we can start to feel worse.

Get your worries out by creating a special monster who will help eat our worries away. Use the template provided or create your own monster and tape or glue it to a small box or paper bag. Once your monster is complete, write or draw your worries on paper and practice feeding your worries to the monster. You can even tear up your worries into bite-sized pieces for your monster. Continue to feed your monster when you have worries.

Story Corner

“Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster” by Michelle Nelson-Schmidt